About Us

Our Story

A witness to history

In May 2004, Cindy Sproul addressed a crowd of three hundred fifty at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge, MA, inviting them to mark the moment by raising a glass to toast the passage of the landmark Goodridge Decision. The crowd, gathered for the auspicious occasion at the first annual 'Same Love, Same Rights'TM LGBTQ Wedding Expo that afternoon, was joyful, attentive and many clung to handkerchiefs: Dozens of couples and wedding professionals alike were teary-eyed and struck with disbelief that the day had finally arrived when same-gender couples would be legally permitted to marry in the Bay State.

Just four and a half years earlier, Sproul and her partner Marianne Puechl had co-founded RainbowWeddingNetwork.com, the first wedding gift registry ever specifically dedicated to the Gay and Lesbian community. The women, planning their own commitment ceremony, saw the need for a website dedicated to LGBTQ unions: having encountered awkwardness themselves as they approached wedding vendors, they decided it would be a wonderful & productive resource to screen vendors so that other LGBTQ couples would not have to experience discrimination.

Timeline

Cindy Sproul realizes there is no gift registry welcoming to the LGBT community; she and partner Marianne Puechl brainstorm the details of RainbowWeddingNetwork.com

Fall 1999

2000

In September of that year RainbowWeddingNetwork.com (RWN) is officially launched

Vermont becomes first state to recognize civil unions for same-gender couples

November 2003

RWN produces its first LGBT Wedding Expo, Minneapolis MN

November 2003

2004

A Year of Change

In May, two weeks before the enactment of full marriage recognition in Massachusetts, RWN produces its 1st Annual LGBT Wedding Expo at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge. That annual event continues today.

Massachusetts becomes first state to recognize full marriage rights for same-gender couples; Multnomah County OR approves then overturns same-gender marriage recognition; under leadership of Mayor Gavin Newsom the city of San Francisco approves then overturns same-gender marriage recognition

Federal Marriage Amendment Act is proposed; RWN focuses more strongly on bringing LGBT Wedding Expos to various states throughout the nation and launches sister site:Â SameLoveSameRights.com

2005

Connecticut approves civil unions

2005

2006

A Voice to a Cause

RWN begins publication of the nation’s first Print Magazine specifically geared toward gay and lesbian weddings and the issues of marriage and family rights.

In November state constitutional amendments banning same-gender marriage are passed in seven more states

2007

New Jersey approves civil unions

2007

2008

Marriage rights are recognized in California. In the summer before the passage of Proposition 8, RWN produces four back-to-back LGBT Wedding Expos from Sacramento to Long Beach. RWN founders Sproul & Puechl marry in a legally recognized ceremony in Malibu.

US Attorney General Eric Holder states that the Obama Administration will no longer defend DOMA; New York recognizes full marriage rights for same-gender couples; Illinois, Delaware, Rhode Island begin offering civil unions for same-gender couples